Plane crash exercise to be held in Dubai

Dubai authorities are organising a safety drill with the scenario of a plane crashing into power lines.

A drill simulating an aircraft crashing into power lines will be staged on Thursday in Dubai.

The plane-crash drill, which aims to improve emergency response, will be held by the Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (Dewa), Dubai Police, the Roads and Transport Authority, Civil Defence and Dubai Corporation for Ambulance Services.

Hussein Lootah, head of the emergency and crisis committee at Dewa, said the drill was part of its crisis-management strategy to better prepare for emergencies and detail roles and responsibilities.

“This drill will not affect power and water supplies,” Mr Lootah said.

Maj Saeed bin Dalmouk, of the Dubai Police operations department, said the goal was to assess the teams’ readiness to face such emergencies.

Participants will be trained on preventive and safety measures, dealing with the injured, carrying out evacuations and following instructions from the drill supervisor.

“Dubai is a metropolitan city now and we have to step up security preparedness to face any emergency that might happen,” Maj bin Dalmouk said.

He said these kind of drills boosted coordination among responders and identified weaknesses.